LA TERNURA

LA TERNURA

'La Ternura' was awarded the Max Prize for Best Theatrical Show in 2019 and is one of the great works of Alfredo Sanzol.

Inspired by the comedies of William Shakespeare, 'La Ternura' deals with "the impossibility of protecting ourselves from the harm caused by love," in the words of its author. Alfredo Sanzol, one of the best contemporary Spanish playwrights, weaves a plot of entanglements and romance in the 16th century to show, with a smile, that "without tenderness, love cannot be seen."

SyNOPSIS

'La Ternura' tells the story of a slightly magical queen and her two princess daughters who travel on the Invincible Armada, forced by Philip II to marry English nobles in arranged marriages once the invasion of England is successfully completed. Queen Esmeralda hates men because they have always controlled her life and taken away her freedom, so she is not willing for her daughters to share the same fate as her. When the Armada passes near an island the Queen considers deserted, she creates a storm that sinks the ship they are traveling on. Her plan is to live on that island with her daughters and never see a man again in her life.

The problem is that they choose an island where, for the past twenty years, a woodcutter has been living with his two sons, who fled there to never see a woman again in their lives. When the queen and the two princesses discover they are not alone, they disguise themselves as men to protect themselves. And there begin the adventures, entanglements, romances, and confusions.